The Cross and our Life

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me." (Mt 16:24)

A word from St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross:

"Everyone who, in the course of time, has borne onerous destiny in the memory of the suffering Savior or who has freely taken up works of expiation has, by doing so, canceled some of the mighty load of human sin and has helped the Lord carry his burden. Or rather, Christ the Head, effects expiation in these members of his mystical body who put themselves, body and soul, at his disposal for carrying out the work of salvation. We can assume that the prospect of the faithful who would follow him on his way of the cross strengthened the Savior during his night on the Mount of Olives. And the strength of these cross bearers helps him after each of his falls. The righteous inder the Old Covenant accompany him on the stretch of the way from the first to the second collapse. The disciples, both men and women, who surrounded him during his earthly life, assist him on the second stretch. The lovers of the cross whom he had awakened and will always continue to awaken anew in the changeable history of the struggling Church, these are his allied at the end of time. We, too, are called for that purpose."

Like Peter, it is not for us to seek out such afflictions, but to identify them in the reality of our daily life. Perhaps we can begin to perceive these bad tasting things not as scandal, but as a gift.

"I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." (Col 1:24)